It’s coming! It’s coming! It’s coming! Coming very soon!
Covers and Excerpts and New Releases.
I’m so excited. It’s been a long road for me to get to this point, however, I’ve so enjoyed the journey. I’ve reconnected with some friends and supporters and met new people who have become friends while taking this path. I can’t wait to introduce them to you.
And there will be more blog posts coming, too!
What about? All sorts of topics related to books, book production, and readers.
Today, I have BOOK NEWS!
Soon, Teresa with Poised Pen Productions will be sharing about a new cover—the cover for Holiday Hearts of Junction, Georgia, was finalized yesterday. She’ll have some excerpts from each story. The book is a full series of five short stories and falling in love through the four seasons. Beginning with the first story, a Christmas love story, you’ll meet supporting characters and then get to share their falling-in-love stories. The stories in the book will take you through Christmas, Valentine’s Day, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and will end with another Christmas story. Each story features a new couple. However, you’ll already be friends. So, I know you’ll be cheering for them!
Teresa will help promote Holiday Hearts and another new upcoming books for 2024. AND there may even be a third book just before Christmas. Maybe. No promises. However, that book will definitely be released in 2025—and 2025 is going to be a BIG year of book news! Stay tuned.
Holiday Hearts. Shirley Cochran helped me select the title. Thank you, Shirley!
I LOVE the cover, the colors in the design. Suzanna Chriscoe of Turnleaf Designs created the cover. She has also negotiated the use of a photograph from a New Orleans photographer for another 2024 book—but more about that later!
In the meantime, I want to share with you how a chance meeting on social media launched a friendship that has spanned about ten years. In the interview article below, please meet my friend Teresa.
All my best,
Linda Joyce
Poised Pen Production is synonymous with Personalized Service
by Linda Joyce
I had traveled from St. Simons Island, Georgia to Ocala, Florida, on a hot June day. The day was the type of scorcher Southerners joke about, “Asphalt hot enough to fry an egg.” The parking lot of a recently opened Dunkin Donuts had all but one space available. Over coffee and a donut, I met Teresa Russ. That was ten years ago.
An online encounter through books first brought us together. She joined my street team, shared about my writing and my books, and offered me moral support. Since then, through our love of books (and sadly, the loss of some of our loved ones—both of our mothers have passed away) our friendship has blossomed through what feels like an exploded world of pandemics and politics. She and I don’t discuss those things. Our conversations revolve around our love of characters and books and author SWAG. It’s a much more enjoyable world.
Teresa’s hometown is Big Cove, Alabama, a community located west, “over the mountain and through the woods,” from where I live, a northern suburb of Atlanta. While it may not sound like it to unfamiliar ears, Alabama has an accent all its own. It’s different from where I’m from in Louisiana, or where I live in Georgia, or even where she lives in Florida with her husband and their collection of cats. Teresa has a gentle laugh and a lilting Alabama accent.
Let me introduce you to Poised Pen Productions, Teresa’s brainchild. “My love for reading and wanting to help my favorite authors get the word out about their books drew me to launch this company.”
Her degree in Business Management has served her well, not only when she launched her company, but in its growth. “When I opened the virtual doors of Poised Pen Productions, it involved trial and error. I consulted with industry professionals, attended numerous marketing classes (a practice I continue to this day), and engaged with authors to understand their needs and with readers to discover what compels them to explore a book further. Creating graphics and teasers for author promotions and book promotions came naturally to me.”
Teresa enjoys learning new things. It stokes her creativity. “I’ve been taking Photoshop classes since the beginning of the year to learn new tricks to further enhance the images I create for my authors and for book covers.”
I asked her about her muse. She said, “While I don’t have a muse, I do have cats. They demand an endless supply of their favorite treats and show tireless encouragement by strolling across my keyboard, reminding me to get back to work, or, more likely, to feed them.”
Most writers write alone. We know other writers. We sometimes see other writers, like at book events or writing groups. We sometimes talk writing in Zoom meetings. However, for the most part, writing is a solitary world. Promotions, on the other hand, aren’t an easy task for introverted scribes of prose. We’re excited to meet new readers, share with new readers, hear from new readers, but the reality of the light of day is that introverts need a lot of quiet time.
For me, when I go to a book signing or a big book event, I want to engage with readers—after all, I’m a reader, too. And then, I want to go back to my hotel room and crash, crawl under the covers, and sleep to recharge. Do not go for drinks. Do not go for dinner. Do not go…anywhere. Yes, there are some authors who are extroverts…but not many I’ve met.
Therefore, it’s through inspiring people, like Teresa, who keep me moving forward, not only in my writing—that inspiration spills over into the rest of my life—because writing and my life are twined.
I wanted to know about from where she draws inspiration. She replied, “I know this may sound cliché, but I deeply admire strong women, especially those trailblazers who paved the way for the rights and freedoms we enjoy today. While we still have progress to make, we must also celebrate how far we’ve come.”
Yes, we need to celebrate all the little and big steps of progress we make.
How dedicated is Teresa to her work? How dedicated is she to supporting an author’s work? Her connections to her clients, her authors, say it all. “I’ve had the privilege to meet most of my current clients, except for Tina Susedik and Teresa Keefer. We are working toward making this happen in 2025.”
Teresa has a creative mind and comes up with unique ideas for each author she works with. While Poised Pen Productions specializes in working with authors, the services offered can be enjoyed by anyone in need of these services outside of the book world. Check out what Poised Pen Productions can do for you:
- Book Cover Design
- Promo Teasers
- Book/Series Bibles
- Facebook Author Page/Street Team Management
- Facebook Timeline Banner
- Facebook Event Set-up w/Banner
- Facebook Teaser
- Facebook Ads
- Twitter Header
- Online or Print Magazine Ads
- 1/4 page
- 1/2 page
- Full-Page
- Newsletter Production
- Blog Production
- Facebook Events
- Your initial consultation is always at no cost to you.
- We offer a full line of swag and promotional items.
If you want to work with a company that specializes in personalized service, please be sure and check out Poised Pen Productions.
“We really do care about our clients and are always here as a sounding board or to just lend an ear,” Teresa told me. And those are exactly the words I would say to you about Poised Pen Productions.
I leave you with Teresa’s words of wisdom, “Embrace the journey, not just the destination. Sometimes I think we are in such a hurry to “get there” that we don’t appreciate all the beauty along the way.”
Please find Poised Pen Production with these links:
poisedpenproductions@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/poisedpenpro
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